Notes and Comments

book S v e n s k a r n e i I l l i n o i s (Chicago, 1880). From this source it has
been repeated time and again by uncritical writers on the history of
the Swedes in Illinois.
Throughout his correspondence with his friend k r o n o f o g d e Ekblom,
Larson writes in almost every letter about the Bishop Hill colony
toward which he was decidedly critical. The long drawn-out court
case is mentioned even as late as 1879. Larson died in 1884; his last
letter to Ekblom is dated June 15, 1880.
It is a good thing to have these letters assembled, and we are i n ­debted
to Dr. Widen for having made them available through the
Swedish Vasa lodges.
E. GUSTAV JOHNSON
C A P T A I N J O H N E R I C S S O N : FATHER O F T H E "MONITOR." By
Constance Buel Burnett. N e w York: The Vanguard Press, 1961. 255
pages. $3.00.
Miss Burnett has written a popular type of biography in which she
permits her imagination to fill in aspects of the subject's life not avail­able
in the documents. Some may seriously object to the writer tak­ing
this freedom, but she does it with restraint and the essential pic­ture
of John Ericsson is accurate. The book is well written and is
likely to be very well received by the young people for whom it was
designed.
NOTES AND COMMENTS
E. G. J.
A neat little booklet entitled N e w Scandinavia's Ninety-
T h r e e Y e a r s , 1868-1961: From Indian Days t o Space
D r e a m s , has been issued by The Scandia Journal, Scandia
(Republic County), Kansas. Settled by Swedes from Chi­cago
who had organized themselves as the Scandinavian
Agricultural Society in 1888, the community was first called
New Scandinavia; the name was later changed to Scandia
and the place was incorporated as a city in 1879. Among
the early pioneers were M. Johnson, Chas. Lysholm, P.
Wallen, John Lundeen, O. J . Strom, Frantz Granstedt, O.
Berggren, Andrew Erickson, J . R. Sandell, Chas. Holm-
169
strom, and Peter Johnson. The booklet tells, with local in­timacy
and pleasant informality, the progress of the com­munity,
its business life, its social, religious and educational
activities. (Items that caught my eye: The Methodist
church still serves its "Annual Swede Supper" each De­cember,
featuring Swedish brown beans, lutfisk, potatiskorv,
ostkaka and lingonberries. The local high school girls' bas­ketball
team was called "the Flying Flickers." An ad quoted
from the local paper, "For Sale—an extra good top buggy;
will trade for pigs or calves." The Rev. B. W. Selin was
editor of the Scandia Journal in the early 1930's.)
* * *
The American Swedish Historical Foundation Yearbook
for 1960, the last to be edited by Dr. Adolph B. Benson,
contains so much fine historical and cultural material, that
we wish to give our readers an indication of this rich store
of Swedish-Americana: (1) "Fredrika Bremer and1 Philadel­phia"
by Joseph Samuel Hepburn (Miss Bremer's visits to
schools, churches and cultural institutions); (2) "The
Swedes in Vermont" by Dorothy Mayo Harvey (Where the
Swedish immigrants settled, how they lived, how they wor­shiped
God); (3) " A Pioneer Swedish Sealer in the South
Atlantic" by Adolph B. Benson (A pioneer Swede sailed
south at least three times to near Antarctica in 1820-1830);
(4) "The 'Swede-Indian'" by Esther Chapman Robb (On
Jacob Fahlstrom, the first Swede in Minnesota); (5) "Gus­tave
Albin Carlson" by Joy Reese Shaw (Sketch of a De­troit
industrialist now retired in Florida); (6) "John Peter
Sjolander 1851-1939" by Ethel Fromen (Swedish writer of
English poetry in Texas); (7) "Thure Kumlien, Swedish-
American Naturalist" by Angie Kumlien Main (Scientist in
early Wisconsin); (8) "The Finns on Cape Cod" by Doug­las
J . Ollila, Jr. (The story of a Finnish community). The
address of the Foundation is 1900 Pattison Avenue, Phila­delphia
45, Penna.
& 5JS &
A dozen books have been written in English about Ivar
170
Kreuger, the Swedish "Match King." The latest is K r e u g e r :
Genius and Swindler by Robert Shaplen, with an introduc­tion
by John Kenneth Galbraith (Alfred A. Knopf, New
York, 1960). For this book, says Dr. Galbraith, the author
"has researched his subject with exemplary care, and, hav­ing
provided himself with a wealth of material, he has used
it with discrimination and restraint." In 1956 he spent a
number of months in Kreuger's native Sweden and did re­search
elsewhere in Europe as well as in America in prep­aration
for this biography. Thus we have another edition of
the story of the fabulous financier who made millions from
matches, including his last dramatic days in America. This
fine book of 250 pages sells for $4.50. (One little comment:
We have never before seen S v e n s k a Handelsbanken written
Svenskehandelsbanken.)
* * *
Utvandrare till Nebraska by May Vontver (Harriers För­lag
Stockholm 1961) is a Swedish novel of a family in Swed­en
(Långstenssläkten) in which "mormor" is the pivotal
figure. It has some autobiographical chapters with settings
in Boston and Denver, showing how the author developed
from a "green" but aggressive Swedish lass into an Ameri­can
school teacher who now in retirement dates the preface
to her book: Billings, Montana, April 1960. We see very
little of any "outwanderers to Nebraska," as the title of the
book led us to look for, but the pleasantly imagined remem­brances
of happenings in the old home in Sweden and the
sternly realistic portions, such as the story of "mormor's"
death in the last chapter, are proof of the author's literary
ability. The book, 233 pages, is priced at kr. 18.50.
171

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book S v e n s k a r n e i I l l i n o i s (Chicago, 1880). From this source it has
been repeated time and again by uncritical writers on the history of
the Swedes in Illinois.
Throughout his correspondence with his friend k r o n o f o g d e Ekblom,
Larson writes in almost every letter about the Bishop Hill colony
toward which he was decidedly critical. The long drawn-out court
case is mentioned even as late as 1879. Larson died in 1884; his last
letter to Ekblom is dated June 15, 1880.
It is a good thing to have these letters assembled, and we are i n ­debted
to Dr. Widen for having made them available through the
Swedish Vasa lodges.
E. GUSTAV JOHNSON
C A P T A I N J O H N E R I C S S O N : FATHER O F T H E "MONITOR." By
Constance Buel Burnett. N e w York: The Vanguard Press, 1961. 255
pages. $3.00.
Miss Burnett has written a popular type of biography in which she
permits her imagination to fill in aspects of the subject's life not avail­able
in the documents. Some may seriously object to the writer tak­ing
this freedom, but she does it with restraint and the essential pic­ture
of John Ericsson is accurate. The book is well written and is
likely to be very well received by the young people for whom it was
designed.
NOTES AND COMMENTS
E. G. J.
A neat little booklet entitled N e w Scandinavia's Ninety-
T h r e e Y e a r s , 1868-1961: From Indian Days t o Space
D r e a m s , has been issued by The Scandia Journal, Scandia
(Republic County), Kansas. Settled by Swedes from Chi­cago
who had organized themselves as the Scandinavian
Agricultural Society in 1888, the community was first called
New Scandinavia; the name was later changed to Scandia
and the place was incorporated as a city in 1879. Among
the early pioneers were M. Johnson, Chas. Lysholm, P.
Wallen, John Lundeen, O. J . Strom, Frantz Granstedt, O.
Berggren, Andrew Erickson, J . R. Sandell, Chas. Holm-
169
strom, and Peter Johnson. The booklet tells, with local in­timacy
and pleasant informality, the progress of the com­munity,
its business life, its social, religious and educational
activities. (Items that caught my eye: The Methodist
church still serves its "Annual Swede Supper" each De­cember,
featuring Swedish brown beans, lutfisk, potatiskorv,
ostkaka and lingonberries. The local high school girls' bas­ketball
team was called "the Flying Flickers." An ad quoted
from the local paper, "For Sale—an extra good top buggy;
will trade for pigs or calves." The Rev. B. W. Selin was
editor of the Scandia Journal in the early 1930's.)
* * *
The American Swedish Historical Foundation Yearbook
for 1960, the last to be edited by Dr. Adolph B. Benson,
contains so much fine historical and cultural material, that
we wish to give our readers an indication of this rich store
of Swedish-Americana: (1) "Fredrika Bremer and1 Philadel­phia"
by Joseph Samuel Hepburn (Miss Bremer's visits to
schools, churches and cultural institutions); (2) "The
Swedes in Vermont" by Dorothy Mayo Harvey (Where the
Swedish immigrants settled, how they lived, how they wor­shiped
God); (3) " A Pioneer Swedish Sealer in the South
Atlantic" by Adolph B. Benson (A pioneer Swede sailed
south at least three times to near Antarctica in 1820-1830);
(4) "The 'Swede-Indian'" by Esther Chapman Robb (On
Jacob Fahlstrom, the first Swede in Minnesota); (5) "Gus­tave
Albin Carlson" by Joy Reese Shaw (Sketch of a De­troit
industrialist now retired in Florida); (6) "John Peter
Sjolander 1851-1939" by Ethel Fromen (Swedish writer of
English poetry in Texas); (7) "Thure Kumlien, Swedish-
American Naturalist" by Angie Kumlien Main (Scientist in
early Wisconsin); (8) "The Finns on Cape Cod" by Doug­las
J . Ollila, Jr. (The story of a Finnish community). The
address of the Foundation is 1900 Pattison Avenue, Phila­delphia
45, Penna.
& 5JS &
A dozen books have been written in English about Ivar
170
Kreuger, the Swedish "Match King." The latest is K r e u g e r :
Genius and Swindler by Robert Shaplen, with an introduc­tion
by John Kenneth Galbraith (Alfred A. Knopf, New
York, 1960). For this book, says Dr. Galbraith, the author
"has researched his subject with exemplary care, and, hav­ing
provided himself with a wealth of material, he has used
it with discrimination and restraint." In 1956 he spent a
number of months in Kreuger's native Sweden and did re­search
elsewhere in Europe as well as in America in prep­aration
for this biography. Thus we have another edition of
the story of the fabulous financier who made millions from
matches, including his last dramatic days in America. This
fine book of 250 pages sells for $4.50. (One little comment:
We have never before seen S v e n s k a Handelsbanken written
Svenskehandelsbanken.)
* * *
Utvandrare till Nebraska by May Vontver (Harriers För­lag
Stockholm 1961) is a Swedish novel of a family in Swed­en
(Långstenssläkten) in which "mormor" is the pivotal
figure. It has some autobiographical chapters with settings
in Boston and Denver, showing how the author developed
from a "green" but aggressive Swedish lass into an Ameri­can
school teacher who now in retirement dates the preface
to her book: Billings, Montana, April 1960. We see very
little of any "outwanderers to Nebraska," as the title of the
book led us to look for, but the pleasantly imagined remem­brances
of happenings in the old home in Sweden and the
sternly realistic portions, such as the story of "mormor's"
death in the last chapter, are proof of the author's literary
ability. The book, 233 pages, is priced at kr. 18.50.
171